1. Field of the Disclosure
The technology of the disclosure relates to fiber optic hardware, and more particularly to fiber optic housings suitable for supporting fiber optic equipment, including fiber optic modules/cassettes and fiber optic panels.
2. Technical Background
Benefits of optical fiber include extremely wide bandwidth and low noise operation. Because of these advantages, optical fiber is increasingly being used for a variety of applications, including but not limited to broadband voice, video, and data transmission. Fiber optic networks employing optical fiber are being developed and used to deliver voice, video, and data transmissions to subscribers over both private and public networks. These fiber optic networks often include separated connection points linking optical fibers to provide “live fiber” from one connection point to another connection point. In this regard, fiber optic equipment is located in data distribution centers or central offices to support interconnections.
The fiber optic equipment is customized based on the application need. The fiber optic equipment is typically included in housings designed to support the fiber optic equipment, which are mounted in equipment racks to optimize use of space. One example of such fiber optic equipment is a fiber optic module. A fiber optic module is designed to provide cable-to-cable fiber optic connections and manage the polarity of fiber optic cable connections. A fiber optic module is mounted to a chassis or housing that is specifically designed to support fiber optic modules/cassettes. Another example of such fiber optic equipment is a fiber optic panel (also referred to as a “patch panel”). A fiber optic panel is designed to provide connection or termination points for optical fiber. A fiber optic panel typically includes fiber optic adapters that are configured to receive fiber optic connectors connected to the optical fiber to be connected or terminated. A fiber optic panel is typically mounted to a chassis or housing that is specifically designed to support fiber optic panels.
The need for particular fiber optic equipment may change. For example, it may be needed or desired to provide additional fiber optic panels at a data distribution center to support a fiber optic network. In this regard, housings specifically configured to support the additional fiber optic panels are provided and installed in available space in equipment racks at the data distribution center. If additional fiber optic modules/cassettes are needed at a data distribution center, housings specifically configured to support additional fiber optic modules or cassettes are provided and installed in available space in equipment racks at the data distribution center. However in these examples, the correct housing type to support the specific additional fiber optic equipment needed may not be readily available thus delaying installations and/or reconfigurations. Even if the correct housing types are readily available, they come at additional cost and requirements for inventory space to store the different types of housings needed to support the different types of fiber optic equipment that may be added or reconfigured. Further, the available space in an equipment rack for supporting additional fiber optic equipment may only be present in existing installed housings that are not fully populated. However, the housings with available space may not be configured to support the particular type of fiber optic equipment to be added.